Post Script
by Blazichu
Summary: Within this series of oneshots, we take a look into the lair after one misadventure, unaware of what is to come- and sharing that trait with our heroes. -A BttS fic- OLD SHAME
1. Tempus Fugit

_As I've stated in the summary this is a series of oneshots, hopefully it will be updated weekly, (to stay true to the vital "unaware of what is to come" part of said summary(I cannot guarantee this can be done, sadly, but I will make a huge attempt to)). My mission in this is to expand upon the episode we have just witnessed this week without knowing what's going to happen next. __**This being the case, each oneshot will have spoilers for the episode that preceded it, and most likely the ones before whichever episode that may be.**__ I am not a stranger to constructive criticism, but please be kind if you review; I'm still working on my characterization. _

_That being said, I hope you enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I'm merely a fan, I don't own anything. _

* * *

Serling took in his surroundings with an air of cold indifference; now that things had settled down, he'd been allowed the peace to reflect on the day's events. That fact itself was a bit unnerving, as- judging from his past experience with the turtles- nothing peaceful, tranquil, calm, serene or soothing could ever be found in the immediate area when all four were present.

Not that the change should bother him or anything.

No, the problem that ate away the robot most could not be blamed on his current hosts… Master Cody had been left all alone back home in 2105, no uncle Darius (which was, arguably, a good thing), no Serling, not even those blasted ninjas or their father…

"_Father…_ "

That led to another dilemma… While he'd been unable to do much at the time, he'd borne witness to their last trip through the time stream. He'd heard Viral's taunts, been the only one to hear the warnings Donatello had attempted to give his family…he'd seen the look on the reptile's face when realization struck, and he'd had a clear last view of Splinter.

… Truth be told, the robot felt rather guilty himself…

Snapping back to the present, he glanced around "the lair" once more; he had yet to explore the layout, but could see quite a bit from where he stood. It seemed horribly primitive...but he could imagine worse. Off to the side he could see Leonardo. _Meditating_, he imagined. Distantly he recognized the sounds of Raphael training… truth be told, it didn't sound like training so much as kicking the stuffing out of a practice dummy… That left two of the hooligans unaccounted for. So, lacking anything better to do, he went on a turtle hunt. As he moved, the robot noticed the blue banded mutant tense up, and heard the punching bag's tormentor pause for a moment, but made no comment.

Despite being a robot- and a sarcastic robot at that- he wasn't unfeeling. It wasn't unexpected for this depression to fall over the remainder of the Hamato clan…but it was a pity. Looking around their home, it felt like the space was so much more accustomed to the rampant insanity that Serling himself was…and having only part of the family back seemed to dishearten it.

Then reality struck again, and he realized that he had been wandering around without watching where he was going. The mech glanced around in the darkness, his sensors picking up a faint movement from off to the side. A door had been left open, and from inside it, the sole source of illumination was found to be the flickering of a screensaver…but he could see the meager light being reflected back into the shadows. It seemed the room's occupant was aware that he had company.

"I…don't know what to do, Serling." Came a disembodied voice from the gloom. The robot took it as an invitation and walked into the room.

"'_You must be strong when your brothers are weak'_…I can just hear…him saying that. Nevermind the fact that I've never been told anything like it… but…"

Against all odds, Serling found the light switch and flipped it on, chasing the darkness away; watching Don flinch at the brightness that momentarily blinded him. As he approached the bed that the other was sitting on, he found himself unsurprised by the darker splotches that marred the violet mask.

"Go on." He prompted gently, unsure how exactly to proceed.

"…but…I can't be strong for them…" The turtle admitted, "because this…well… this is _my_ fault…"

Suddenly, the room went quiet again. Apparently Donatello had realized what he was saying, and to who.

"…I'm sorry to have put you in that position." He said as soon as two and two clicked. "You don't want to be here, I know that…" The statement drifted back into a silence that nobody was sure how to fill.

Eventually, Serling settled on something to break the stillness."You should not worry about it… I believe I _do_ still owe you for repairing me earlier…and you had to tell somebody-"

"Still, this isn't your problem-"

"Donatello, I do not believe that your brothers blame you. You are all taking this very hard and…(though it's hard to believe) I do not think of my being here as a total loss, if I can help…"

The purple banded turtle gave him a strange look, like he was unconvinced.

"…You softshelled idiots…" Serling added, almost under his breath.

In an instant, the expression was gone, replaced by something that wasn't quite a smile, but something that the robot found was better than what he'd started with. Feeling it was acceptable, he got up and made to leave the room, reaching out for the light switch once more.

"Serling…" Came the quiet voice from behind him "…could you please leave it on?"

The robot nodded and set off into the lair once more. Even if he could, he would certainly _not_ be smiling right now…

…Okay...well…maybe a _little_…

_

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_

Okay, I realize it was a lame ending…and that the lack of Mikey is rather obvious. In seeing Tempus Fugit though, I thought this should definitely be devoted to Don… Though I'll admit that I'm a faithful fan of the turtle in purple. ;D

_I'm a little uncertain about this, partially because writing it from a more Serling-ish perspective was not only a whim, but a whim that I was totally unprepared for. I've never even written Serling __**into**__a fanfiction before (nevermind the fact that this is my first NT story here on FF)… The other part was that I wasn't too sure how to write the interaction appropriately, since we so rarely see Serling and Don interacting apart from terrorizing each other…_

_Reviews will be greatly appreciated, and I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed this. -Guardian_


	2. Karate Schooled

_I know this is terribly late, and I'm very sorry. As my trig teacher'd say "Life got in the way". Between swim meets and other nonsense (education included)...life really did get in the way. So even though it's late, here it is..._

_Disclaimer: Don't own anything_

* * *

He was tired.

He hadn't had any rest since Serling had talked some sense into him, but that didn't matter right now. What really mattered was that he had failed. Failed his mission, failed his friends, his brothers, his father…

Donatello hated failure.

So there was only one thing to do, throw his heart into his work…and against all odds, he'd found something. Their father was alive…somewhere out there in cyberspace. And if the others had had any chance of getting him to stop his work earlier, it had vanished at his first glimpse of Splinter; just because he hadn't stopped didn't mean he couldn't keep going, after all.

Don heard their words, but he remained oblivious to the concern his family expressed.

_"Donnie, you can't blame yourself, it's not your fault"_

In his own mind, it didn't matter; the only one who could relate at _all_ was Serling, and it wasn't like the robot cared that much. What were they thinking, trying to tell him it wasn't his fault? Of _course_ it was his fault! He'd been the one operating Turtle-X at the time, even if the systems had been taken over by Viral. He_ should_ have found a way to fight her off!

What did the others think _he_ was doing?

He couldn't let Viral infect Serling again, and she definitely couldn't be allowed to access the lair's technology. If there was one thing to say about the turtle in purple, it was that he learned from his failures, and that was why they were so rare. He simply _had_ to learn from them, because his mistakes always ended like _this!_ They weren't little harmless things like Mikey tripping over his own cat or even Raph punching through the television..._again_; both those things could be fixed with relative ease.

Don sighed as the thought crossed his mind once more: _His_ mistakes could be the end of them, or even cause the future to come crashing down. And his family honestly thought Leo was the perfectionist? There was simply no room for error in his work, as the slightest miscalculation could cause disaster.

Still...

Frustration was no excuse for treating his family so poorly... Now that he'd had the time to reflect on the day, he could see that his words had not been fair. What must they have thought as he'd snapped at them earlier? Again, that odd line drifted through his head. _You must be strong when your brothers are weak..._

Wasn't that what he was doing? Nobody else knew the technology well enough to do this sort of work...One weyward thought came to him for a moment; he was going about this wrong, he should listen to Leo. Who else had become consumed by guilt?

Leonardo had taken it to an extreme, too...and he'd been sent away because of it.

_"Donnie, you can't blame yourself, it's not your fault"_

Donatello dismissed the idea though...this was a completely different situation, after all.

...wasn't it?

_"Yes it is."_

_

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_

Another weird ending, but I liked it, believe it or not. That's my favorite line from 'Karate Schooled', right there. Really looks like things are going 'Season-4-Leo', huh (That's not an insult! It's a good thing)? Neh... I'm not complaining...

_...Believe me, I'll stick Mike in here sooner or later..._

_Reviews are appreciated, if you've got the time. _


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